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Subject Author Date
TaxCut vs TurboTax Cranky Dude 04-13-2007
Posted by Cranky Dude on April 13, 2007, 7:42 am
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 Hi,

Because I had used TaxCut once a couple years ago, H&R Block sent me a
free copy of TaxCut Basic and an invitation to upgrade to a paid
version. This year Staples didn't offer its usual rebate on TurboTax.
So I decided to go with TaxCut Basic this year and see what happens;
after all it was free. I did my taxes in February but never submitted
them. Then this week I found someone who had a copy of TurboTax Deluxe
and just for the hell of it I recalculated my federal tax using
TurboTax.

In 2006 I had replaced my water heater with an energy saving water
heater. TaxCut never asked me about that. TurboTax did. So my tax
bill using TurboTax ended up being $150 less than my tax bill using
TaxCut.

Conclusions?

1) Maybe TurboTax interviews are more complete.
2) Maybe the energy saving deduction was buried in TaxCut somewhere and
I didn't see it, which would make TurboTax interviews are more
understandable.
3) Don't trust "free" software. It might cost more than what you save.

CD


Posted by Laura on April 13, 2007, 8:35 am
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 You might go back into TaxCut to see if you can find the energy saving
deduction. I would also confirm the same at the IRS site. HRB is notorious
for giving out incorrect information. Why should their tax software be any
different.

> Hi,
>
> Because I had used TaxCut once a couple years ago, H&R Block sent me a
> free copy of TaxCut Basic and an invitation to upgrade to a paid
> version. This year Staples didn't offer its usual rebate on TurboTax.
> So I decided to go with TaxCut Basic this year and see what happens;
> after all it was free. I did my taxes in February but never submitted
> them. Then this week I found someone who had a copy of TurboTax Deluxe
> and just for the hell of it I recalculated my federal tax using
> TurboTax.
>
> In 2006 I had replaced my water heater with an energy saving water
> heater. TaxCut never asked me about that. TurboTax did. So my tax
> bill using TurboTax ended up being $150 less than my tax bill using
> TaxCut.
>
> Conclusions?
>
> 1) Maybe TurboTax interviews are more complete.
> 2) Maybe the energy saving deduction was buried in TaxCut somewhere and
> I didn't see it, which would make TurboTax interviews are more
> understandable.
> 3) Don't trust "free" software. It might cost more than what you save.
>
> CD
>


Posted by Stubby on April 13, 2007, 8:57 am
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The Energy Credit is 1040 Line 52.
FWIW TTax/Quicken were so complicated that I gave up and went to a CPA.
That cost me $675!


Cranky Dude wrote:
> Hi,
>
> Because I had used TaxCut once a couple years ago, H&R Block sent me a
> free copy of TaxCut Basic and an invitation to upgrade to a paid
> version. This year Staples didn't offer its usual rebate on TurboTax.
> So I decided to go with TaxCut Basic this year and see what happens;
> after all it was free. I did my taxes in February but never submitted
> them. Then this week I found someone who had a copy of TurboTax Deluxe
> and just for the hell of it I recalculated my federal tax using
> TurboTax.
>
> In 2006 I had replaced my water heater with an energy saving water
> heater. TaxCut never asked me about that. TurboTax did. So my tax
> bill using TurboTax ended up being $150 less than my tax bill using
> TaxCut.
>
> Conclusions?
>
> 1) Maybe TurboTax interviews are more complete.
> 2) Maybe the energy saving deduction was buried in TaxCut somewhere and
> I didn't see it, which would make TurboTax interviews are more
> understandable.
> 3) Don't trust "free" software. It might cost more than what you save.
>
> CD
>

Posted by Cranky Dude on April 13, 2007, 9:34 am
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William.Plummer-NOSPAM-@alum.mit.edu says...
> The Energy Credit is 1040 Line 52.
> FWIW TTax/Quicken were so complicated that I gave up and went to a CPA.
> That cost me $675!
>

I agree that it can be daunting to do your own income taxes. That's why
I try to start around January and work through it slowly. A lot of the
questions about investments were confusing for me but I spent time
looking up answers. You spent $675 but you also may have saved more
than that in having someone do your taxes for you.

That one year that I used TaxCut, I did so because Intuit put some very
invasive copy protection on TurboTax. I had a problem with one of the
sections of the TaxCut interview, went online to their tech support, and
found them very helpful in guiding me through that section. I think,
however, that I will probably stick with TurboTax in the future. I
think the interview that the TurboTax gives is easier for me to follow
than the one in TaxCut, even though TaxCut has improved a lot since the
last time I used it.

CD


Posted by Jeff on April 13, 2007, 12:18 pm
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Cranky Dude wrote:
> Hi,
>
> Because I had used TaxCut once a couple years ago, H&R Block sent me a
> free copy of TaxCut Basic and an invitation to upgrade to a paid
> version. This year Staples didn't offer its usual rebate on TurboTax.
> So I decided to go with TaxCut Basic this year and see what happens;
> after all it was free. I did my taxes in February but never submitted
> them. Then this week I found someone who had a copy of TurboTax
> Deluxe and just for the hell of it I recalculated my federal tax using
> TurboTax.
>
> In 2006 I had replaced my water heater with an energy saving water
> heater. TaxCut never asked me about that. TurboTax did. So my tax
> bill using TurboTax ended up being $150 less than my tax bill using
> TaxCut.
>
> Conclusions?
>
> 1) Maybe TurboTax interviews are more complete.
> 2) Maybe the energy saving deduction was buried in TaxCut somewhere
> and I didn't see it, which would make TurboTax interviews are more
> understandable.
> 3) Don't trust "free" software. It might cost more than what you
> save.
>
> CD

For me, the major advantage for using TT over TC is simply that TT can
download my broker 1099s while TT cannot. When you have a lot of
investments, that saves hours of data entry that might be error prone.

Jeff



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